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Hans Thomsen

University of Zurich, Switzerland, Art History, East Asian Art History, Faculty Member

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Address: Czech Republic

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City University of Hong Kong

Jennifer Purtle（裴珍妮）

University of Toronto

Dokuz Eylül University

Zhejiang University

National University of Singapore

Shih-shan Susan Huang 黃士珊

Rice University

Armin Selbitschka

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Marco Meccarelli.

Università di Catania

Ulambayar Erdenebat

The National University of Mongolia

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Books by Hans Thomsen

.China and the West: Reconsidering Chinese Reverse Glass Painting

by Hans Thomsen and Alina Martimyanova

China and the West: Reconsidering Chinese Reverse Glass Painting, 2022

With contributions from outstanding specialists in glass art and East Asian art history, this edi... more With contributions from outstanding specialists in glass art and East Asian art history, this edited volume opens a cross-cultural dialogue on the hitherto little-studied medium of Chinese reverse glass painting. The first major survey of this form of East Asian art, the volume traces its long history, its local and global diffusion, and its artistic and technical characteristics. Manufactured for export to Europe and for local consumption within China, the fragile artworks studied in this volume constitute a paramount part of Chinese visual culture and attest to the intensive cultural and artistic exchange between China and the West.

JAPANESE REVERSE GLASS PAINTING: THE OTHER EAST ASIAN TRADITION

China and the West: Reconsidering Chinese Reverse Glass Painting, 2022

The essay outlines the Japanese tradition of reverse glass painting, looking at both textual evid... more The essay outlines the Japanese tradition of reverse glass painting, looking at both textual evidence as well as extant objects from the three early modern production centers: Nagasaki, Osaka, and Edo. A knowledge transfer from Dutch and Chinese traditions of reverse glass painting initially took place through the city of Nagasaki, where a number of local artists received aspects from both traditions and created a new genre of Japanese art. In time, this art form spread to other parts of Japan, where it took on themes typically seen in Japanese visual media, such as beautiful women, kabuki actors, and landscapes. The inter-medial connections to the woodblock prints became a key part of the Japanese tradition of reverse glass painting and, with the advent of new media in the latter part of the nineteenth century, photography became incorporated into the art form.

ヨーロッパ大陸の中の小島 - スイスとその東洋美術コレクション (PNC2013 NIHU企画セッション報告)

Looking Modern: East Asian Visual Culture from the Treaty Ports to World War II (penultimate proofs)

by Hans Thomsen and Jennifer Purtle（裴珍妮）

Papers by Hans Thomsen

11 Japanese Reverse Glass Painting the Other East Asian Tradition

De Gruyter eBooks, Oct 24, 2022

The essay outlines the Japanese tradition of reverse glass painting, looking at both textual evid... more The essay outlines the Japanese tradition of reverse glass painting, looking at both textual evidence as well as extant objects from the three early modern production centers: Nagasaki, Osaka, and Edo. A knowledge transfer from Dutch and Chinese traditions of reverse glass painting initially took place through the city of Nagasaki, where a number of local artists received aspects from both traditions and created a new genre of Japanese art. In time, this art form spread to other parts of Japan, where it took on themes typically seen in Japanese visual media, such as beautiful women, kabuki actors, and landscapes. The inter-medial connections to the woodblock prints became a key part of the Japanese tradition of reverse glass painting and, with the advent of new media in the latter part of the nineteenth century, photography became incorporated into the art form.

Haiku-Surimono : Gedicht-Surimono, Sammlungs-Album 1 des alten Baimin

Diese Publikation erscheint im Zusammenhang mit der Ausstellung "Surimono - Gedichtblatter d... more

Ein Bild für den Kaiser

Le geste suspendu : estampes kabuki du Cabinet d'arts graphiques = The frozen gesture : Kabuki prints from the collection of the Cabinet d'arts graphiques

Les estampes kabuki sous différentes formes blog.mahgeneve.ch /les-estampes-kabuki-sous-different... more Les estampes kabuki sous différentes formes blog.mahgeneve.ch /les-estampes-kabuki-sous-differentes-formes/ Christian Rümelin Alors que s'ouvre au Cabinet d'arts graphiques l'exposition Le Geste suspendu. Estampes kabuki, focus sur des estampes qui prennent parfois des formes inhabituelles, promouvant à leur façon le théâtre kabuki et ses héros.

Sueharu Fukami: visions from the shards of Sennyūji

Japanese Bronze Bells in Switzerland

Global Europe – Basel Papers on Europe in a Global Perspective, 2021

Western museums hold numerous Japanese objects, typically gathered by collectors during travels i... more Western museums hold numerous Japanese objects, typically gathered by collectors during travels in Japan and then donated to local institutions. This simple scenario is by no means always the case, as can be seen with the numerous Japanese bronze bells in Swiss museum collections. The story of how the bells changed from holding significant functions within Japanese monastic and secular communities to being sold for their materiality and sheer weight as they travel across the globe tells a complex story of how objects change in meaning as they travel. As the bells were eventually relegated to museum archives, their stories help to shed light on global transfers, interculturality, and cultural misunderstandings, as they narrowly escape destruction. Their stories show the futility of claiming global understanding of art when, despite globalization, we are in the end products of our own localized traditions and understandings.

Textual introduction to the exhibition ’A Painting for the Emperor: Japanese Labourers on Sugar Plantations in Hawai’i’”, Johann Jacobs Museum, February 8 to May 31, 2018

Dusinberre, Martin; Research Team, "A Painting for The Emperor" (2018). Textual introduction to the exhibition ’A Painting for the Emperor: Japanese Labourers on Sugar Plantations in Hawai’i’”, Johann Jacobs Museum, February 8 to May 31, 2018. Zürich: Johann Jacobs Museum., 2018

An online catalogue for the exhibition, Johann Jacobs Museum, February 8 to May 31, 201

Entdeckerlust - Burgdorfer Sammlerpersönlichkeiten und ihre ostasiatischen Schätze

Der vorliegende Katalog ist die Begleitpublikation zur Ausstellung &quot;Entdeckerlust - Burg... more Der vorliegende Katalog ist die Begleitpublikation zur Ausstellung &quot;Entdeckerlust - Burgdorfer in Ostasien&quot; im Museum für Völkerkunde Burgdorf. Herausgegeben von der Abteilung für Kunstgeschichte Ostasiens der Universität Zürich, beinhaltet der Katalog Artikel zur ostasiatischen Sammlung des Museums, verfasst von Studierenden und Jungakademikern*innen. Die präsentierten Objekte zeigen die Lebensweise und kulturellen Gegebenheiten weit entfernter Zivilisationen und führen komplexe Netzwerke vor Augen sowie den Regen Austausch nicht nur zwischen Ostasien und Europa, sondern zwischen Ostasien und der scheinbar kleinen Schweiz. Durch die Betrachtung japanischer, koreanischer und chinesischer Kunst, können wir in direkten Kontakt mit den fremden Kulturen treten und ein neues Verständnis für fremde Aspekte ostasiatischer Kultur, aber der eigenen Schweizer Geschichtsschreibung entwickeln. Die Schätze in Burgdorf erzählen nicht nur die Geschichte von Kunst und Kultur, sondern auch vom regen Austausch zwischen der Schweiz und Ostasien sowie den vielen Reisenden - Männer wie Frauen! - die alleine, oftmals mit Kamera und leeren Koffern bepackt, die Welt auf Dampfschiffen umrundeten, um sich ein Stück der &quot;Exotik&quot; ins eigene Heim zu bringen. Der Katalog zeigt die vielen Facetten künstlerischer Arbeit, das bürgerliche Interesse am Fremden und &quot;Exotischen&quot; und die globale Geschichte von Tourismus und Güteraustausch anhand Schweizer Sammler*innen und ihrer heimgeführten Objekte.

Looking Modern: East Asian Visual Culture from Treaty Ports to World War II

Looking Modern: East Asian Visual Culture from Treaty Ports to World War II examines multiple dim... more Looking Modern: East Asian Visual Culture from Treaty Ports to World War II examines multiple dimensions of visual modernity in East Asia from the nineteenth century through the early decades of the twentieth. The papers were drawn from two symposia held at the Center for the Art of East Asia in the Department of Art History, the University of Chicago, which brought out important themes in East Asian Art and visual culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries including photography, cinema, and fashion, changing roles of women, commercialization of art, and the impact of Western cultures. They undertook a broad interpretation of visual modernity to include visual dimensions of human endeavor traditionally seen as outside of artistic production in order to encourage exploration of new and understudied materials across disciplinary boundaries. This volume not only provides important background in the growth of modern visual culture in East Asia, but also is a collection of seminal...

An Island in the Middle of Europe : Switzerland and its Collections of East Asian Art (PNC2013 NIHU企画セッション報告)

人間文化研究情報資源共有化研究会報告集, Mar 1, 2014

Kirschblüte & Edelweiss : der Import des Exotischen

ヨーロッパ大陸の中の小島 : スイスとその東洋美術コレクション (PNC2013 NIHU企画セッション報告)

人間文化研究情報資源共有化研究会報告集, Mar 1, 2013

.China and the West: Reconsidering Chinese Reverse Glass Painting

by Hans Thomsen and Alina Martimyanova

China and the West: Reconsidering Chinese Reverse Glass Painting, 2022

With contributions from outstanding specialists in glass art and East Asian art history, this edi... more With contributions from outstanding specialists in glass art and East Asian art history, this edited volume opens a cross-cultural dialogue on the hitherto little-studied medium of Chinese reverse glass painting. The first major survey of this form of East Asian art, the volume traces its long history, its local and global diffusion, and its artistic and technical characteristics. Manufactured for export to Europe and for local consumption within China, the fragile artworks studied in this volume constitute a paramount part of Chinese visual culture and attest to the intensive cultural and artistic exchange between China and the West.

JAPANESE REVERSE GLASS PAINTING: THE OTHER EAST ASIAN TRADITION

China and the West: Reconsidering Chinese Reverse Glass Painting, 2022

The essay outlines the Japanese tradition of reverse glass painting, looking at both textual evid... more The essay outlines the Japanese tradition of reverse glass painting, looking at both textual evidence as well as extant objects from the three early modern production centers: Nagasaki, Osaka, and Edo. A knowledge transfer from Dutch and Chinese traditions of reverse glass painting initially took place through the city of Nagasaki, where a number of local artists received aspects from both traditions and created a new genre of Japanese art. In time, this art form spread to other parts of Japan, where it took on themes typically seen in Japanese visual media, such as beautiful women, kabuki actors, and landscapes. The inter-medial connections to the woodblock prints became a key part of the Japanese tradition of reverse glass painting and, with the advent of new media in the latter part of the nineteenth century, photography became incorporated into the art form.

ヨーロッパ大陸の中の小島 - スイスとその東洋美術コレクション (PNC2013 NIHU企画セッション報告)

Looking Modern: East Asian Visual Culture from the Treaty Ports to World War II (penultimate proofs)

by Hans Thomsen and Jennifer Purtle（裴珍妮）

11 Japanese Reverse Glass Painting the Other East Asian Tradition

De Gruyter eBooks, Oct 24, 2022

The essay outlines the Japanese tradition of reverse glass painting, looking at both textual evid... more The essay outlines the Japanese tradition of reverse glass painting, looking at both textual evidence as well as extant objects from the three early modern production centers: Nagasaki, Osaka, and Edo. A knowledge transfer from Dutch and Chinese traditions of reverse glass painting initially took place through the city of Nagasaki, where a number of local artists received aspects from both traditions and created a new genre of Japanese art. In time, this art form spread to other parts of Japan, where it took on themes typically seen in Japanese visual media, such as beautiful women, kabuki actors, and landscapes. The inter-medial connections to the woodblock prints became a key part of the Japanese tradition of reverse glass painting and, with the advent of new media in the latter part of the nineteenth century, photography became incorporated into the art form.

Haiku-Surimono : Gedicht-Surimono, Sammlungs-Album 1 des alten Baimin

Diese Publikation erscheint im Zusammenhang mit der Ausstellung "Surimono - Gedichtblatter d... more

Ein Bild für den Kaiser

Le geste suspendu : estampes kabuki du Cabinet d'arts graphiques = The frozen gesture : Kabuki prints from the collection of the Cabinet d'arts graphiques

Les estampes kabuki sous différentes formes blog.mahgeneve.ch /les-estampes-kabuki-sous-different... more Les estampes kabuki sous différentes formes blog.mahgeneve.ch /les-estampes-kabuki-sous-differentes-formes/ Christian Rümelin Alors que s'ouvre au Cabinet d'arts graphiques l'exposition Le Geste suspendu. Estampes kabuki, focus sur des estampes qui prennent parfois des formes inhabituelles, promouvant à leur façon le théâtre kabuki et ses héros.

Sueharu Fukami: visions from the shards of Sennyūji

Japanese Bronze Bells in Switzerland

Global Europe – Basel Papers on Europe in a Global Perspective, 2021

Western museums hold numerous Japanese objects, typically gathered by collectors during travels i... more Western museums hold numerous Japanese objects, typically gathered by collectors during travels in Japan and then donated to local institutions. This simple scenario is by no means always the case, as can be seen with the numerous Japanese bronze bells in Swiss museum collections. The story of how the bells changed from holding significant functions within Japanese monastic and secular communities to being sold for their materiality and sheer weight as they travel across the globe tells a complex story of how objects change in meaning as they travel. As the bells were eventually relegated to museum archives, their stories help to shed light on global transfers, interculturality, and cultural misunderstandings, as they narrowly escape destruction. Their stories show the futility of claiming global understanding of art when, despite globalization, we are in the end products of our own localized traditions and understandings.

Textual introduction to the exhibition ’A Painting for the Emperor: Japanese Labourers on Sugar Plantations in Hawai’i’”, Johann Jacobs Museum, February 8 to May 31, 2018

Dusinberre, Martin; Research Team, "A Painting for The Emperor" (2018). Textual introduction to the exhibition ’A Painting for the Emperor: Japanese Labourers on Sugar Plantations in Hawai’i’”, Johann Jacobs Museum, February 8 to May 31, 2018. Zürich: Johann Jacobs Museum., 2018

An online catalogue for the exhibition, Johann Jacobs Museum, February 8 to May 31, 201

Entdeckerlust - Burgdorfer Sammlerpersönlichkeiten und ihre ostasiatischen Schätze

Der vorliegende Katalog ist die Begleitpublikation zur Ausstellung &quot;Entdeckerlust - Burg... more Der vorliegende Katalog ist die Begleitpublikation zur Ausstellung &quot;Entdeckerlust - Burgdorfer in Ostasien&quot; im Museum für Völkerkunde Burgdorf. Herausgegeben von der Abteilung für Kunstgeschichte Ostasiens der Universität Zürich, beinhaltet der Katalog Artikel zur ostasiatischen Sammlung des Museums, verfasst von Studierenden und Jungakademikern*innen. Die präsentierten Objekte zeigen die Lebensweise und kulturellen Gegebenheiten weit entfernter Zivilisationen und führen komplexe Netzwerke vor Augen sowie den Regen Austausch nicht nur zwischen Ostasien und Europa, sondern zwischen Ostasien und der scheinbar kleinen Schweiz. Durch die Betrachtung japanischer, koreanischer und chinesischer Kunst, können wir in direkten Kontakt mit den fremden Kulturen treten und ein neues Verständnis für fremde Aspekte ostasiatischer Kultur, aber der eigenen Schweizer Geschichtsschreibung entwickeln. Die Schätze in Burgdorf erzählen nicht nur die Geschichte von Kunst und Kultur, sondern auch vom regen Austausch zwischen der Schweiz und Ostasien sowie den vielen Reisenden - Männer wie Frauen! - die alleine, oftmals mit Kamera und leeren Koffern bepackt, die Welt auf Dampfschiffen umrundeten, um sich ein Stück der &quot;Exotik&quot; ins eigene Heim zu bringen. Der Katalog zeigt die vielen Facetten künstlerischer Arbeit, das bürgerliche Interesse am Fremden und &quot;Exotischen&quot; und die globale Geschichte von Tourismus und Güteraustausch anhand Schweizer Sammler*innen und ihrer heimgeführten Objekte.

Looking Modern: East Asian Visual Culture from Treaty Ports to World War II

Looking Modern: East Asian Visual Culture from Treaty Ports to World War II examines multiple dim... more Looking Modern: East Asian Visual Culture from Treaty Ports to World War II examines multiple dimensions of visual modernity in East Asia from the nineteenth century through the early decades of the twentieth. The papers were drawn from two symposia held at the Center for the Art of East Asia in the Department of Art History, the University of Chicago, which brought out important themes in East Asian Art and visual culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries including photography, cinema, and fashion, changing roles of women, commercialization of art, and the impact of Western cultures. They undertook a broad interpretation of visual modernity to include visual dimensions of human endeavor traditionally seen as outside of artistic production in order to encourage exploration of new and understudied materials across disciplinary boundaries. This volume not only provides important background in the growth of modern visual culture in East Asia, but also is a collection of seminal...

An Island in the Middle of Europe : Switzerland and its Collections of East Asian Art (PNC2013 NIHU企画セッション報告)

人間文化研究情報資源共有化研究会報告集, Mar 1, 2014

Kirschblüte & Edelweiss : der Import des Exotischen

ヨーロッパ大陸の中の小島 : スイスとその東洋美術コレクション (PNC2013 NIHU企画セッション報告)

人間文化研究情報資源共有化研究会報告集, Mar 1, 2013